Ready long before the call came.
Anthony Harris grew up in Richmond, captained Virginia on a damaged shoulder, went undrafted and spent three seasons preparing for a job that wasn’t his yet. In 2019 he tied for the NFL lead in interceptions.
The kid from Richmond.
Until · Richmond
Anthony grew up in Richmond, Virginia, where his mother taught him to leave anything he touched in better condition than he found it. In seventh grade, an NFL player from Richmond spoke at an assembly in his school auditorium and told the students that at least one of them would go on to do great things. Anthony told himself,
“I’m gonna be that kid.”
At L.C. Bird High School he didn’t play football as a freshman, and the head coach joked that he was scared. He took the dare. As a junior he started at quarterback and in the secondary, where he allowed one completion all season, and he was named first-team all-state. In 2011 he enrolled at Virginia.
2021 · Richmond, Virginia “I’m gonna be that kid.”
The captain.
to · Virginia
He played every game as a freshman at Virginia and started as a sophomore. In 2013 he made eight interceptions, the most in the nation, and was named first-team All-ACC. That year the staff asked him to speak to the younger players. He came back for his senior season, and his teammates elected him a captain.
“There is a difference between being a leader on the team and just being one of the better players,”
he said that fall. At BYU, in the fourth game, he hurt his right shoulder. He played the rest of the year in a harness and finished with 108 tackles. He also received the Gray-Carrington Scholarship, for“personal integrity, achievement, leadership and humility,”
and finished his sociology degree that December.
2014 · Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta Undrafted.
· Minnesota
The shoulder surgery came on December 30, 2014, and it kept him from working out at the Combine or his pro day. He went undrafted. The Vikings signed him as a free agent in May, released him at the final roster cut in September and put him on the practice squad. In December they called him up. His first NFL game was a start, on a Thursday night at Arizona, in place of an injured Harrison Smith: 76 snaps and 10 tackles. After the season he said,
“We’re all professionals and expected to be able to perform when our number is called.”
The understudy.
to · Minnesota
For the next two seasons he played mostly on special teams and started three games a year. Over his first three seasons he was on the field for 19 percent of the defense’s snaps. He used the time to study Harrison Smith,
“watching his reps, seeing where his eyes are.”
In 2017 Vikings.com called it an understudy role.“That takes a lot of patience and consistency,”
Smith said later.“Guys want to come in, they want to start, they want to be ‘The Man,’ and if it doesn’t work that way, normally guys don’t stick to that process.”
In 2018 an injury to a starter moved Anthony into the lineup for the last nine games. He intercepted three passes, and PFF ranked him the NFL’s third-best safety.
The starter.
· Minnesota
He began 2019 as a starter.
“It’s a title I wanted to have,”
he said,“but that’s not the end goal.”
In September, linebacker Eric Kendricks said,“I’ve seen him go through a lot and start at the bottom, legitimately.”
By the end of the season Anthony had six interceptions in 14 starts, one returned for a touchdown, and a tie for the NFL lead. He was named PFF First-Team All-Pro (2019). Then, in the playoffs at New Orleans, he intercepted Drew Brees and ran it back 30 yards.
The huddle.
· Minnesota
The Vikings used the franchise tag to keep him in 2020, and he made a career-high 104 tackles that year. The season opened with two losses. He spent those first two weeks watching, figuring out the team’s identity and
“what role do I need to play to bring out the best in the team?”
Then he asked the head coach for permission to address the team at the Saturday-night meeting. The next day he stood in the middle of the pregame huddle:“Everybody who’s standing right here is standing right here for a purpose. Your talent, your abilities, they’re enough. Believe in the process, believe in the preparation.”
He spoke again before the next game, at Houston, and the Vikings won for the first time that season.
2020 · U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis “Your talent, your abilities, they’re enough.”
Called back.
to · Philadelphia and Denver
In 2021 he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, who called him
“a durable player, a team leader, active in the community.”
He re-signed in 2022 and was in line to start. Then the Eagles made a trade, and at the August cutdown they released him. He spent part of the fall with the Denver Broncos. In December, short on safeties after injuries, the Eagles called him back.“Life tends to have a way to come back around,”
he said.“It’s kind of like in life you learn lessons, and if you don’t learn they keep showing up until you do.”
2021 · Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Front of the room.
Since · Richmond
In 2021 the Eagles’ media guide asked what he would do if not football. He answered that he would be in
“mentoring, helping people through life and figuring out their direction.”
That year he started the Anthony Harris Foundation, which runs free youth camps in Richmond, Thanksgiving meals and holiday programs. In 2024 he went back to the Eagles on the coaching side, through the NFL’s Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, and spent four weeks with the rookie defensive backs. He found he“enjoyed being part of other people’s success.”
That August he spoke to students at Edward T. Steel School in Philadelphia, and in July 2025 to the Virginia football team. Now he brings that work to companies, schools and teams.
2025 · Virginia 
2024 · Philadelphia 
2022 · Richmond, Virginia
